00:00 Women in India are breaking several stereotypes.
00:03 Financial independence has opened up many avenues for women.
00:07 And the effect is that women are not just concentrated to FDs and gold.
00:14 They are diversifying. And how?
00:18 Today in a special Women's Day series, we speak to a group of retail investors
00:24 on how they manage their investments.
00:28 You always said that do not put all your eggs in one basket.
00:31 You should always diversify.
00:32 So what is your strategy when it comes to investing in stocks and mutual funds?
00:36 And how do you diversify your portfolio?
00:38 So honestly, I've been fortunate enough to be in the BFSI sector itself.
00:44 I work with a wealth management company.
00:47 So that gives me a lot of knowledge as to what's happening in the market.
00:51 So that really made me much aware of the market.
00:54 Honestly, I was very intimidated with the market.
00:57 Initially, when I thought of investing, because traditionally,
00:59 my parents also always thought that, you know, if you have surplus money, keep it in FD.
01:03 But I mean, because I'm in this industry, and I've, you know, sort of gained knowledge
01:07 as to, you know, there are various securities that you can invest.
01:11 I obviously chose mutual fund because for me, investments are currently long term.
01:16 And like I said, I'm intimidated with the market.
01:19 So I started with mutual funds.
01:21 But while I've been investing for the last five, six years,
01:24 I've understood that direct equity is also not that bad.
01:27 So as we speak today, I'm not really investing in direct equity.
01:31 But I mean, I would sort of like to take that, you know,
01:34 leap of faith also of investing in direct equity.
01:38 And so there was this interesting data, I mean, I would say quite sad data.
01:44 So the data is like, there's a declining trend when it comes to, you know,
01:50 opening of DMAT account with respect to women.
01:53 So Anmol, my question to you is, what should one do to increase the financial literacy amongst women?
02:00 First is we need to target educational courses and workshops where we can have these discussions
02:06 about what exactly is mutual funds, how has your experience been.
02:10 Especially discussion among peers is most helpful.
02:14 Not only it guides you, it also helps you understand their previous experience
02:18 as what has their been journey and it kind of leads you.
02:21 You don't have to start from step zero.
02:24 You can start at step one because of the right guidance.
02:27 So those are very important.
02:28 Even for me, I started investing in mutual funds because of recommendation from my peer.
02:33 They told me how it works.
02:34 Especially these conversations I feel don't usually happen among women a lot.
02:38 Men usually will talk about, okay, we're investing in stocks.
02:42 This has been the result.
02:43 But in women, we have to start talking about it.
02:46 Mahima, this side. So my question to you is that you manage your family portfolio as well as your portfolio.
02:52 How important do you think is a woman's participation in terms of family financial decisions?
02:59 Oh, it's very, very important that women need to be a part of the decision-making process
03:06 as far as finances are concerned because we all know that women are mostly managing
03:10 the day-to-day affairs of the household.
03:12 And a woman who is financially literate, who has a sound relationship with money,
03:19 the whole financial health of the household will really depend on that.
03:24 So that becomes somebody who is aware, she will know.
03:28 It's not just, you don't have to be frugal only.
03:31 Like housewives are told they have to be frugal, they have to save.
03:34 Where do you put your savings?
03:36 If your savings are lying in the locker, they're useless.
03:38 So if you save that money, you've got a corpus, you have to invest it wisely.
03:44 Be prudent with your money, make your money earn for you.
03:47 Money breeds money, we all know that.
03:49 Another very important factor why women should be an important part in the decision-making is
03:54 because we are setting the right precedent for the future generations.
03:57 Because if my child is to take a huge student loan today,
04:02 the rest of her life or his life will be incurred in paying off that debt
04:07 and for his expenses he will take on a credit card and he will get caught in that vicious circle
04:12 of borrowing and paying off.
04:15 So if you have a healthy relationship with your money, you will teach that forward.
04:21 And probably we'll serve the society better.
04:25 [Music]
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